See Also: Octopus(medicine)
octopus(dictionary)
octopus(encyclopedia)
octopus(dictionary)

octopus (iou)



octopus noun. . M18.
[mod. Latin from Greek oktopous, from okto eight + pous foot.]
A cephalopod mollusc of the genus Octopus or the order Octopoda, having a beaklike mouth surrounded by eight arms or tentacles bearing suckers, and with the shell vestigial or absent. M18.
fig. An organized, esp. harmful or destructive, power or influence having extended ramifications. L19.
N. Freeling The great bureaucratic octopus got in the way.
A fairground ride in the form of a set of eccentrically rotating spokes with passenger cars suspended from their ends. M20.